détente in the grass

So, the wife called a place that was recommended to take a look at the lawn mower. They do housecalls, which is great. It took a few days to tee-up, but today he came over and checked it out.

He was super laidback, his name was Dave, and definitely knew his stuff. He had a cube truck that was a rolling shop. He fixed the throttle, so it now turns off when it is supposed to. He fixed the idle, it was too low. I did not know. He fixed the drive assist. Wow, I always thought it was just crappy. He changed the air filter. I never could find it. He changed the oil. I always found it a pain in the ass and just topped it up as needed. He did a bunch of little futzes and fixes.

Finally, he sharpened the blade. I never did, it is only two seasons old. Or is it three? Anyway, to me it should not have needed to be sharpened, but he said it was as dull as a bucket. Actually, I do not think he said that, but it was just as appropriate. Besides, buckets are not sharp, so it works, unless of course you have an old metal one and sharpened the edge. But then you would just be weird if you did that.

Watching him work, I was pretty sure I was going to be happy he came to do the work. You could see, even feel, his confidence in what he was doing. I was not going to be able to cut the grass until later today as I was out of fuel and would have to get when I picked up the boy. 

By the time he was done, I decided I would give the mower another chance, even though I said I wanted to dump it regardless. I now figure it was not so much trying to kill, but lashing out as a way to seek help for what ailed it.

Anyway, while Dave was cutting the bill, I remembered something. I took off to the garage and rifled through a bunch of crap that made its way there from the basement because of the flood. Ah, there it was. My prized Husqvarna chainsaw. Not such a prize anymore. The chain tensioner will not tension the chain. The safety brake once seized up for no apparent reason. I figured Dave has some mystical powers and would be able to bring the saw back from the brink as I was certain he had with the mower. I explained my woes to him. He knew exactly what I was talking about and told me to throw it in the back. He will take a look-see and let me know what needs to be done.

Off he went to be a hero somewhere else. I went back in the house to deal with some online sale matters and to keep making my soup stock and my pot of beef barley soup, which is fantastic by the way.

Well, after all that and the soup was finally done, not a short process by any means, plus having got the boy and the gas, I put fuel in the mower and took it out. It revved well, the drive assist assisted the drive, it idled properly, it cut like gangbusters. Let me tell you, not once did it sputter out and stop, not once did I have to pull huge amounts of grass out from the cutting deck. It got a great workout too, it had been almost a week-and-a-half since I cut the grass, plus all the clumps of grass from the last time I cut the grass that were laying in wait like land mines. And for the finale, it stopped when the throttle was shutdown. Awesome!

I am very impressed with Dave and Hunter Power Equipment. He was worth every penny. I am still going to either find a used lawnmower like my old one, or go with "second-cheapest-is-best", but I will work with the one I have until it does give up the ghost. I will definitely be taking it to see Dave at the beginning of next year's grass cutting season. Huzzah! blbbl